Myrtle Avenue Time Capsule

As part of the celebration of MARP's tenth anniversary, we are building a community archive to document the social, cultural and commercial life on Myrtle Avenue. Myrtle Avenue: Past, Present, Future is a community-based project intended to capture and preserve public life on a neighborhood commercial corridor, in the diverse and dynamic Brooklyn neighborhoods of Fort Greene and Clinton Hill.

Our Time Capsule, Myrtle Avenue: Past, Present, Future, will occur in three phases. First, creating the archive involves collecting and organizing community donated materials that document the public culture, commerce, urban built environment and day-to-day life on the avenue, either from the past or present. We will then locate a place for the archive to be displayed in a public exhibition as a record of collective experiences, memories and the present day spirit of Myrtle Avenue. After exhibition, we plan to donate the collective contents of the community archive to the Brooklyn Historical Society for their safe keeping.

Participation of the community is vital to this project, as the goal of the exhibition is to gather and create an archive of the Myrtle Avenue experience, from decades past to the current day. We invite you to dig deep into your photo albums and journals, to document your daily routine on the avenue, to describe your favorite block or merchant, or to otherwise CELEBRATE the character, history, present day, changes to, or future vision of the avenue in your own unique way.

You can contribute your oral histories, photographs (we can scan a copy), handwritten documents, original artwork, collage, stories, personal artifacts, found objects, recordings, creative interpretations, receipts, menus, and mappings of life on Myrtle Avenue. If you have questions, would like to arrange to drop off materials, would like a suggestion, or would like to set up a time to share your Myrtle stories, contact Joanna or Sarah at the MARP office by phone, at 718-230-1689, or email, at info@myrtleavenue.org.

We welcome your personal stories and creativity in documenting Myrtle Avenue!